


Tomorrow, Today

by KevlarMasquerade (nightsstarr)



Series: Demonfire Babies [2]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: AU, timetravel au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-20
Updated: 2014-03-20
Packaged: 2018-11-30 21:46:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11472315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightsstarr/pseuds/KevlarMasquerade
Summary: Damian and Mar'i find themselves suddenly thrown into a future where their children are Gotham's protectors. Seeing as Damian has yet to reveal his feelings for Mar'i, the situation is less than desirable for the al Ghul heir.





	Tomorrow, Today

“You’re sure we’ll be able to fix everything once we get inside?” Mar’i asked as she set Damian on the ground in front of the side entrance to the Cave. It appeared to be disused, with weeds growing over the electric panel so thickly that Mar’i doubted it worked anymore.

“Yes,” Damian grunted. He began tearing at the weeds, but they clung to the rock facade stubbornly.

Mar’i pushed him to the side and gathered star energy in her fingers, burning though the weeds above the panel to reveal the number pad and the camouflaged outline of a small entrance. She tapped in the code-the date of Thomas and Martha Wayne’s death, the same as it always had been-but the screen flickered red to indicate a failed attempt.

“Hey,” she complained. She moved to enter the code once more, but Damian pushed her out of the way.

The same result greeted him after he punched in the usual code, and he frowned at it. “There’s only two people I can think of who’d change the security code,” he muttered, and he punched in a series of numbers.

The screen flashed green and rock scraped past rock as the entrance lifted to reveal a craggy hallway.

“As I thought,” he said to Mar’i as she crossed her arms, silently demanding an explanation. “I changed it.”

“To what?”

“Just get in,” he ordered gruffly, pushing her into the tunnel with a hand on the small of her back.

They’d not walked more than a few steps when a red light, crackling but contained, lit at the end of the tunnel.

“What are you doing in here?” a girl’s voice asked them. After a few moments of allowing their eyes to adjust, they could make out a face behind the light–pin straight hair down to her shoulders, so dark it nearly blended into the background, against the tanned skin of her face, half-obscured by a mask that covered her mouth and nose. What was most striking and easily identifiable was the pair of vibrant blue-green eyes, all one color framed by the shadows of her lashes thrown by the light.

“Tamaranean?” Mar’i whispered to Damian, whose fingers were curled tightly around the hilt of his sword. She held up her palm, flat out, and lit her own starbolt, the pink energy crackling around her fingers.

The different colors blended in the middle of the craggy corridor, creating a light-to-dark gradient of fiery light.

The scarlet light dimmed, and in the shadows of her starbolt Mar’i could make out the other girl’s frown, her fist still balled in front of her.

“I’ll need your name,” she said shortly.

Mar’i tilted her head at Damian, unsure what information she should be disclosing, and he shrugged in response.

“Mar’i.” When this got no response from the other girl, she clarified, “Mar’i Grayson.”

Her short hair rayed out in a dark halo as she shook her head, and a smirk complete with raised eyebrows graced her features. “Grayson,” the girl repeated, as though the word was foreign on her tongue. “That must make you Damian Wayne, huh?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Damian huffed, annoyed at her tone.

She shrugged. “Just that where she goes, you’ll try to follow.” The girl turned, and a half-cape that had been hidden in the dark flourished as she turned. “I’ll take you to the Batcave. You’d better put that out,” she added over her shoulder, indicating Mar’i’s starbolt. With a look at Damian she also added, “And you’ll have to check your swords, hidden knives, and belt at the door. Hope that’s not a problem.”

“A problem?” Damian echoed, his voice challenging, but Mar’i elbowed him in the side.

“So what’s your name?” she asked as she lifted into the air to land slightly behind the other Tamaranean.

She frowned, like she was considering her answer carefully. “Call me Mel,” she answered, and then she tapped at her ear where she must have been keeping an earpiece and speaking to whoever was on the other side.

“Mel? Short for, what, Melanie? Melody? Melissa?” Mar’i asked, trying to be friendly. And besides, she was getting a weird vibe from her.

“No,” Mel answered curtly, before hissing, “Oran, just get Bruce, okay?” into the earpiece.

“Short for Melisande,” Damian corrected as he came up behind them, and Mar’i furrowed her eyebrows at him. “Isn’t that right?”

Mel sighed. “Something like that. We’ll discuss it when we regroup.”

“How did you—?” Mar’i began, but Damian interrupted her.

“Quiet,” he said gently. “You’ll understand shortly.”

She let him pass her, pouting at the ambiguity of his answer, then she lifted into the air to catch up after a few seconds.


End file.
